Caged Swan
by Reanne100
Summary: AU. It wasn't Regina that cast the curse and things are very different; the people of Fairy-tale Land are not able to live in cushy town that's for sure. A pregnant Emma Swan is not pleased when she is sent to jail, but does everyone in there deserve their imprisonment? Featuring all your favourite femslashes.
1. Chapter 1

Emma Swan was sulking. As weeks had gone this certainly had to be in the bottom five. Not only had her boyfriend spectacularly screwed her over, not only had she found out she was pregnant but after the suckiest trial ever she was in jail. Not just any jail, one in freaking Maine. Make that bottom three.

Unsurprisingly the day she was due to arrive started badly. The prison bus she was transported on smelled strongly of bleach and body odour; there where stains on the seats she didn't even want to think about. After an agonisingly long and silent trip with only the greasy bus driver for company she caught her first glimpse of Brooke prison; which was suitably grey and dull looking.

"Hey come here often?" she joked to the driver. He maintained his stony silence. "Gee I hope the rest of this place is as exciting as you" she muttered under her breath.

The large chain-link fence was topped with some not-so-inviting looking barbed wire and opened for her arrival. The bus driver led her through two metal gates inside the building before signing her in impassively. "I know you love me really" she called after him as he walked away. Another nameless and silent guard came to collect her and Emma sighed; this place looked like it was going to be so much fun. Just when she thought it couldn't get any worse it was time for the strip search. The day just kept getting better and better.

The arrival of the warden however piqued Emma's interest.

"Inmate number 815, Miss Swan. Follow me please."

The woman had the same chilly disposition as the other guards but she was poised and alert. Her outfit and demeanour screamed wealth; but not the kind that could be earned working in a low security jail. A trust find perhaps Emma thought, although that didn't explain what she was doing in this place. She looked slightly worn down and had the air of someone who would rather be anywhere than where they are now. She clearly didn't belong. Answering some of unasked questions running around Emma's head she explained;

"I'm Regina Mills the head warden at this facility. I oversee the day to day running of operations and make sure that things run as smoothly and efficiently as possible. If you cause any trouble in my prison then you'll be sent directly to me."

"You like the bad girls then huh Regina?" Emma smirked.

"You'll address me as Warden Mills" she corrected irritably. She took a left turn and stopped outside of a closed double door. "This is the dining hall. Breakfast is at 7.30, Lunch at 12 and Dinner at 6. As part of your routine you may opt in to work either in the kitchens or the laundry room; the wage is 50 cents an hour and I can assure you that it's the most anyone around here will pay you." Regina gave what Emma would come to classify as her signature sneer and Emma rolled her eyes.

"The shower block is to your right and will be available for use before breakfast and an hour before lights out. You are free to mingle with the general population from twelve to one on weekdays and twelve to two on Saturdays, the rest of your time you will be confined to your cell unless eating, washing or working. Any questions so far?"

"Yeah, where's the best place to get a drink around here? Preferably something strong."

"Stick to sensible questions Miss Swan" the Warden sighed exasperatedly.

"Well" said Emma pausing for a moment "it'd be nice to know where I'm sleeping I guess"

"Follow me"

Warden Mills took off authoritatively through a maze of corridors, her heels clicking on the floor as she walked. She finally stopped in section B1404.

"Welcome to your new home for the next 18 months Miss Swan. Your roommate is currently on shift in the laundry room. She will be back to collect you at five before dinner. "

"Wait I have a roommate?"

"Oh I'm very sorry Miss Swan" Regina's voice dripped with sarcasm. "We must have got your reservations mixed up with someone serving a prison sentence; you were obviously expecting an upscale hotel suite."

Emma ignored her and stepped into the cell. Unlike the recently built prison cells or modern renovations Emma had seen on daytime TV re-runs of Law and Order the door and front wall was made up of long painted white bars. So much for privacy Emma thought. On the left hand side of the room was a stainless steel bunk bed with clean enough looking sheets. To the right was a matching metal sink and toilet. The centre of the room was taken over by a small desk and lamp. Emma took a step towards the bed.

"At least its en-suite. Very classy"

"Your roommate appears to have already taken the bottom bunk. iIf you have any complaints about that take it up with her"

"Don't worry Warden, I like to be on top".

It was Regina's turn to roll her eyes. They finally settled on Emma's stomach. 'Fantastic' thought Emma. Just the person I really wanted to know.

"I'm sure you two will be very happy here"

And with that parting message she shut the door and left, leaving only the faint smell of apples. Perhaps this place wouldn't be quite so boring after all.


	2. Chapter 2

Emma was laid on the top bunk with her fingers clasped behind her head staring at the grubby looking ceiling. In her opinion she was doing a fantastic job of looking nonchalant; but inside she was freaking out. What if she didn't like her new roommate? What if her new roommate didn't like her? What if she had really bad breath or talked too much or breathed fire? OK so the last one was unlikely but the hygiene issues where a genuine concern! She was so busy panicking herself and running through all the worst possible scenarios that she failed to see Ruby being let into the cell by a guard.

"Hi, you must be my new roommate?" she asked kindly.

Emma was so startled that if the ceiling had been a couple of inches lower her head would have hit it. She tried to speak but a weird choked noise came out while simultaneously in her haste to climb down to the floor she got tangled in the sheets and practically fell off the bed. 'Way to make a good first impression Emma' she thought. She cleared her throat and tried again.

"Hi I'm Emma, Emma Swan, Inmate 815, the big 800… plus 15. So… come here often?"

Emma inwardly groaned, that was twice today she had used that corny line. She was clearly off her game.

"Sorry. When I'm nervous my mouth does this strange thing where it tries to joke but doesn't consult my brain first".

Ruby laughed "It's fine, I was exactly the same when I got here. You learn to silence the crazy, because there's plenty of crazy going around in this place already."

Emma's anxiety attack calmed down enough to notice what Ruby was wearing, or more precisely what she wasn't. Her uniform shirt looked two sizes too small and almost child sized, although Emma doubted there was any need for children's clothes in an adult penitentiary. The resulting image was one that left little of Ruby's body to the imagination. A large band of her toned stomach was uncovered and the majority of Ruby's buttons were undone, showing an unholy amount of cleavage. She broke what Emma was sure to be some serious dress code violations. Ruby's makeup was also heavily done, as if she was planning on going out to a bar that evening and making it home in time for breakfast the next day. Emma wondered how she'd even got hold of that makeup, not being able to bring any of her own in.

Ruby saw her looking and smiled in a predatory way.

"There are major perks to working in the laundry room, like 'accidentally' shrinking your uniform in the wash" she winked. "You should think about joining the rota too. It gets you out of this cell and trust me if you're stuck in here all day you'll go crazy in no time. Plus even though you're working it's like extra free time because you can talk to everyone. You wouldn't believe how much there is to gossip about."

"What about the kitchens? I'm a terrible cook but I thought maybe I could learn some skills."

"I worked in there once, you come out every day feeling dead because the woman who runs it, we call her Granny, is an absolute slave driver. Plus you get covered in grease and it's so gross."

Emma inwardly smiled and thanked her blessings that her new roommate was a clean one. "Alright well it looks like laundry duty it is. Excellent work on the sheets by the way."

"I can't take all the credit; it's a special new product I like to call bleach. I'm sorry the rest of the place isn't as wonderful, we don't get much of a budget for interior decorating."

"Don't worry about it, I've slept in worse places. This is better than at least 75% of all my foster homes"

Ruby smiled sympathetically.

"So" Emma said quickly changing the subject "What's this place like in general?"

"It's… bearable. If you know the right people and can avoid the wrong ones."

Emma started to speak but was cut off by a wailing noise coming from the cell next door.

"What the hell is that?" She asked.

"Snow."

"I've never heard frozen rain make a noise like that before"

Ruby raised her eyebrows. "Seriously?"

"Hey I work with what I'm given."

"Snow's her nickname. Well more of a pet name. We call her it because she's so pure and innocent, or she was before she got sent to this place. She doesn't do a very good job of coping in here"

"What's her real name?"

"Mary Margret. She's really super kind usually; she just has her bad days. I don't know, maybe in another life she'd be stronger but this place has just worn her down."

There was a soft murmuring also coming from the cell trying to calm Mary Margaret down.

"And who's that?"

Ruby smiled softly. "That's Belle. She's Snow's roommate. She works and spends her free time in the library. I tried to get a job in there too but they don't have any openings. She won't join the laundry service either because she loves books and practically has her dream job in here".

Ruby's cheeks where slightly flushed.

"Sorry for all the questions, this day has just been a bit of an overload."

"It's fine, we've all been there. Come on, we should get ready to be collected for dinner."

Emma decided to go ahead and like Ruby.


	3. Chapter 3

Ruby led Emma into the dining hall which was already half full. Under her breath she murmured "Don't make eye contact with anyone before I debrief you on them. You don't want to start anything on your first day"

Ruby grabbed a tray from the side and Emma followed suit.

"Hey Granny. Having a good day?"

"It would be better if you'd come back to work in the kitchens, I'm stuck with incompetent fools"

"Sorry, it's just not fair to the general population that I hogged all the time with you, you're a gift that needs to be shared with the world." She winked. "Plus they couldn't get me to work on the industrial sized deep fat fryer again if they paid me a hundred bucks an hour. And do you remember that time I was on onion chopping duty and had to do enough for everyone in here? My eyes didn't stop watering for three days! I had to go see Dr Whale."

Granny made a hurrrumf noise. "And who's this you've got with you?"

"A new recruit. Emma this is Granny, Granny this is Emma"

"Pleased to meet you" Emma said nervously. "Something smells good"

Granny deeply laughed. "Well you're a kind liar that's for sure. It's Monday which means mystery meat meatloaf day. Will you be looking to join the kitchens Emma?"

Ruby saved the awkward moment with "Sorry Granny got to go the queue behind us is getting restless."

She shoved Emma in the side to get her moving and took her to an empty stainless steel table.

"Ok let's start getting you acquainted with the general population. Well you've already met the old woman serving the food. We all just call her granny. She's been here practically forever, longer than both of us combined have been alive anyway. She's tough but if you earn her respect and get on her good side she'll treat you decently and might even give you extra food if you're having a rough day. She's a good person to have on your side in a fight because food is very important around here. The one rule to always remember when dealing with Granny is never complain about the crap she serves, she's the only one that's allowed to do that and she tries her best"

"Got it." Emma replied, taking a mental note to be extra kind to Granny.

"Oh OK this is a good one. The woman Granny's serving right now? That's the Blue Fairy"

"You've lost me. And why do you give everyone such ridiculous nicknames?"

"It passes the time. She's called the Blue Fairy because she was arrested in fluffy blue ball gown and because can grant wishes. She can get you almost anything you want; assuming the price is right of course. She works down in the store-rooms and anything she can't get from there she has contacts for. She's where I get all of my makeup from. Don't let her godliness fool you, she's in here for a reason and if you can't pay up for something she gets nasty real quick. You don't want to know what she can do with all those contacts"

"Ruby why do you bother wearing makeup in here anyway? Is there someone you're trying to impress? Ohhh do you like someone in here?"

Ruby looked uncomfortable. "Something like that." She suddenly became very interested in watching the Blue Fairy and luckily for the purposes of keeping the subject in a neutral area saw a woman trip over her own feet and spill the contents of her tray perilously close to where the Blue Fairy was standing.

"Her name?" Emma grimaced in sympathy.

"I forget. I call her Clumsy for obvious reasons. She hangs around with Blue, or rather Blue puts up with her which makes her valuable in some way. By all means be friendly with her but keep your guard up."

Emma looked around. "Who's the pregnant girl sat by herself?" she asked nervously. "Does she have a harder time in here?"

"That's Ashley, she's only in here for fraud or something; her boyfriend couldn't pay the bills. In some ways it's easier because people leave her alone. She's just lucky she only got a short sentence so she'll be out before the baby is born. You can't keep a baby in a prison and she'd have had to give it up."

Emma looked down at her own still flat stomach while Ruby scanned the room. "See her over there at the table on the far side? The butch looking one? That's Mulan."

"Like the Japanese Warrior Princess?"

"Chinese, but close enough. You should probably stay away from her and her girlfriend, she's not from the same place as us"

Emma's eyes widened slightly "Jeez Rubes I never took you to be a racist". Ruby gave Emma a sarcastic look and a shove.

"Not like that. From what I hear Aurora and her are from the same neighbourhood. Mulan had to be tough to survive there and was on her own before Aurora came along. Even after they found each other it was a brutal place and they had to do some pretty terrible things. There was this man after them, apparently he was a giant and Mulan had to stab him to save Aurora. That's why she's so possessive of her, she can't stand to let her out of her sight in case anything happens and she's terrified of anyone taking her away. When she gets mad Rory is the only one who can calm her down, which is good because I really would not want to be anywhere near her in a fight. They're just lucky they got convicted together and where both sent to the same place." She paused. "Well, if lucky is being in this hellhole".

"I'm not too sure I can judge her on that Ruby. I mean haven't we done some pretty terrible things to survive too? She doesn't sound different to us at all" Ruby looked down at her plate.

"So let's go over who else is here" questioned Emma, for once tactfully changing the subject. "God Ruby it's like high school all over again with the little cliques all sat together at their tables."

"Trust me it's just as bitchy. This many psycho women together in one place? It's a recipe for disaster." She scowled. "Ok moving on. See over there? If we're talking high school then that's the teachers table."

Emma could see Warden Mills already sat and surrounded by a group of people. She was daintily picking at her food as if she was unwilling to eat it but continuing anyway to set a good example. She was obviously too cheap to buy better food Emma thought. She wondered if it was safe for Regina to be sitting in the middle of a hall surrounded by unrestrained prisoners who obviously hated her. Emma actively tried to make herself not care, but in honesty she felt pretty pissed off at the woman's need to look control, to the point where she was purposely putting herself in danger.

"I trust Regina already gave you the warm welcome."

"So warm I thought I was going to spontaneously combust. What is her problem?"

"Yeah she's pretty good at getting under peoples skin. I'll have to go into detail about her later or we'll be here all night. On her right is Dr Whale; he's a real smarmy creep. From what I heard he's in league with Blue and single handedly feeds all of this prisons drug habits. That's bad enough but sometimes if a girl can't pay or he has a special interest in her then he takes something other than cash for payments."

Emma's insides churned. "And the warden knows about this? What if someone gets the flu or something?"

"She can't do much about it without revealing a whole other big bunch of flaws in the prison. But she always tries to make sure if you're genuinely sick you get proper treatment; with no strings attached."

"Ugh I hope I never get ill in here."

"Opposite Whale is Mal. She sometimes has rotation on our block. Stay away from her she's a real dragon. I have seriously never met anyone so awful."

"You've met Warden Mills right?"

"She's alright when you get used to her. You must bring out her happy side, you have that effect on people" she joked.

"Gee thanks."

"And finally next to Mal is Dr Hopper. He's probably the only decent guy in this place. He's a therapist and if you ever have any problems he'll be there to listen. He's really been helping Snow out."

Emma finished the rest of her meaty slop in contemplative silence. It tasted awful but was better than most things she had cooked herself before. Like that time she made chicken stir-fry and gave herself food poisoning. At least in here she didn't have to worry about accidentally murdering herself with improperly cooked meat. But by the sound of it there were plenty of other ways she could get herself in trouble in here. I'll just have to stick to Ruby she thought. That and stay away from the infuriating Warden Mills.


	4. Chapter 4

That night Emma lay on her bed and drifted in and out of consciousness. The springs in the mattress were prominent and poked harshly into her back and she kept jerking awake to unfamiliar sounds; Mary Margaret's whimpers, screams from a faraway cell, the clanging of metal on metal.

Her fragile sleep was punctured by hallucinogenic dreams. In one she turned to Ruby only to discover she had transformed into a giant wolf. Her sharp fangs where bared and her mouth was foaming. The Blue Fairy hovered above her on glittering wings and she called out for help, her arms stretching to reach her. She flew up higher dancing out of Emma's reach and told her that she would only help for the right price. Clumsy was beside her and dropped through the air like a rock, right into Ruby's jaws. Emma looked away as she was devoured and the Blue Fairy transformed into Dr Whale who told her there was always something to trade if she was desperate enough. Warden Mills appeared in flash of purple light and stepped between Emma and the monster that was once Ruby. Emma tried to tell her to move, the Wolf wouldn't stop wanting to eat her just because she was the Warden. No words came out and she lurched towards Regina but was dragged forcibly away by Mulan who cut her stomach open with her sword and told her to stay away. Ruby morphed into a giant who Mulan tried to fight, but her sword was as useless as a plastic toy and she sunk to the floor in defeat. In the background Ashley was screaming and begging for her baby not to be taken away. Through all of this Emma couldn't help but feel that they were all being controlled from the shadows by an unseen puppet master.

Unsurprisingly the next morning when Emma had finally fallen into a deep sleep she was less than willing to wake up; despite Ruby's multiple attempts to rouse her. What felt like seconds later she was finally woken by a forcible pulling away of the bed sheets.

"G'way. M'sleeping" Emma muttered into her pillow.

"Miss Swan is there a reason you are missing breakfast?"

Emma groaned and pushed her head further into the pillow. She knew that voice and it didn't sound impressed. Unwillingly she lifted her head and turned around onto her back, noting that Regina was taking in her dishevelled appearance.

"I'm not much of a breakfast person. Lunch has always been more of my thing."

"Well then it's a shame they're mandatory. As it's your first real day I'll only give you a warning, but if you insist on acting like a child then I'll have to treat you like one. You'll also find that not all the guards are as lenient as I am."

Emma's eyes where almost too tired to roll at Regina. She had a feeling that by the time she was done in Brooke jail her eyes would be severely sprained by all the involuntary movement they were getting. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind. Shouldn't it be the other lowly guards harassing me this morning?"

"I like to personally make sure that everything in this jail is running smoothly and from the very start Miss Swan you struck me as a jagged piece in my well-oiled machine. Until you can be trusted to" Regina struggled as if looking for the right word "behave yourself I will be keeping a very close eye on you. Now have decided if you're going to spend any of your oh-so-valuable time working in our humble little prison?"

"Well at first I thought I'd leave that kind of thing to the commoners; then I realised that you wouldn't step foot in a menial place like the laundry room and because getting away from you is an unexpected bonus I really had to take that into account."

Regina looked daggers at Emma. "I didn't know you had the ability to think, let alone rationalise Miss Swan. It's a shame you haven't yet mastered knowing when to keep those thoughts inside of you. You need to learn and not forget who's in charge of this place Emma; you wouldn't want to cross the wrong people. Now if you're quick you'll be able to make the last ten minutes of breakfast. I'll put you down for laundry duty".

Regina turned on her heels and left Emma to angrily simmer. Emma muttered furiously to herself all the way to the dining hall. If anyone had been around to see her then she was sure she would have looked crazy. "Does anything faze that woman? And what the hell was she talking about 'don't cross the wrong people'. Is she threatening me? Yeah I bet she's the type to talk about herself in third person. Stupid vague pretentious snob. I bet this is exactly what she wants. She wants to get under my skin. Well I'm not even going to think about her. See, I'm not thinking about her at all. Thinks she's better than everyone else. Stupid".

Once Emma had grabbed a bowl of greyish slop with an ominous "It's oatmeal… mostly…" from Granny she scanned the sea of faces for Ruby ready to have a good moan. She hoped that she was still there. She saw her sat at a table with another woman who had her back to her. She had a short pixie cut and Emma presumed she must be either Belle or Snow. She approached the table slightly awkwardly, her anger fading. She didn't want to seem presumptuous that Ruby wanted her to sit with them. She didn't need to worry though because as soon as Ruby saw her she waved her over.

"Morning Emma, sorry I tried to wake you but you were dead weight. Rough night?"

"Yeah, I guess it will take some time to adjust. Just splash some cold water over me next time that usually does the trick. The last thing I need is another wakeup call from Warden Mills; it's way too early to deal with her."

"I thought about the water but I didn't want you to wake up confused and punch me, my face has a reputation to uphold. Oh I forgot, you two haven't met yet, Emma this is Mary Margaret, Mary Margaret this is Emma". Mary Margaret had been sat silent and unresponsive until then but she gave Emma a watery smile and said "You can call me Snow, Mary Margaret is a bit of a mouthful and no one calls me it anyway". She laughed nervously.

"Nice to meet you Snow. Do you work in Laundry too?"

She nodded. Emma elaborated "I just joined today so you'll have to show me the ropes. Once I forgot to shut the washing machine door before I turned it on. It took me about an hour to realise and by them it was way too late. I was in so much trouble. But I suppose the bubbles kept the younger kids entertained. So yeah, all the help I can get please".


	5. Chapter 5

The laundry room was a hot and steamy place that smelled strongly of chemicals. Filling three of the long tiled walls where large industrial washing machines and dryers that rumbled noisily. Snow broke off from Emma and Ruby immediately and headed straight for the dryers.

"Those don't sound too stable" Emma said worriedly while looking at the shaking machinery.

"How many times do I have to tell you Emma? Nothing is very stable in this place." Ruby said with mock philosophy. " But if your worrying about one exploding you shouldn't, they take a lot of weight and if they were going to do it they would have done it by now. The row on the left are for uniforms and the row on the right are for bedding, in the middle are the dryers."

"Is there someone I should report to and get orders?"

"No we usually just run it ourselves unless there's been some trouble or the works not being done right. A guard comes to check on us every fifteen minutes or so but that's about it. Before that some girls got in a fight in here; the girl that lost got put in a dryer. They turned it on and left it for forty minutes. She nearly drowned and had to be airlifted out to a real hospital."

"That's crazy. Remind me never to pick a fight with Warden Mills in here; I don't want her getting any ideas"

Ruby raised her eyebrows "You've been in here less than twenty-four hours and have already made a mortal enemy? I'm impressed; usually it takes at least a week. Seriously though Ems, it sounds like you're the one obsessing over her." She said sternly.

Emma shot Ruby her dirtiest look "That's what she wants you to think."

"Riiigggght. Well we can talk conspiracy theories later; unless I get abducted by little green men or the yeti appears from behind the mountain of dirty laundry and carries me away to his lair." Emma's death stare continued. Quickly changing the subject Ruby asked "Any preferences on where you work today?" Emma shook her head. "Then I think I'll put you on folding duty for now. It's nice and simple and you won't have the chance to destroy anything… or anyone. After lunch I'll start showing you how the machines work. "

"That sounds like a plan to me."

Hours but what felt like years later it was finally time for lunch. Emma's spine felt like it was about to cave in from the amount of laundry she had carried and she was all too aware that she would be working after lunch as well. They were walking to the dining hall when Emma exploded "how in the hell do you do this day after day Ruby? I am dying."

"You get used to it. That and you get seriously toned. I don't mind the lifting it's just the smell that gets me. I swear I have like a superhuman nose. Go on; ask me what's for lunch today."

"What's for lunch?"

"Left-over meatloaf"

"Wait isn't the menu the same every week?"

"That's not the point Emma!" Ruby grumbled.

"You'd think by now they'd have got the portion control right, you know after having to schedule in the same reheated food week after week".

"It is a bit weird. I suppose the prison staff just doesn't really care, I mean they're not the ones forced to eat it."

"But some of them do, I saw Warden Mills forcing the stuff down her throat"

"You're watching her eat now?"

"Shut up Ruby"

Ruby's nose was right and the menu was in fact leftover meatloaf, which none of the prisons occupants looked very happy about. Again Ruby led Emma to the same empty table and they sat down to eat.

"So after you've finished eating you get free time until one, any idea how you're going to spend it?" asked Ruby.

"I don't really know. There haven't been many opportunities to get my bearings so I suppose I'd like to scope the place out. Besides that I have no idea. Any suggestions?"

"Well there isn't much in the way of leisure activities. We have a gym, but I wouldn't advise going there because that's where Mulan's gang hangs out. There's a common room but that's where the Blue Fairy makes her deals so it's a little risky. It's fine on Sundays though, everybody goes in because there's a movie shown in the evening. I'd suggest the library. It's a pretty safe place to hang out because reading isn't on most people's priority list in here. Plus you can finally introduce yourself to Belle!" Ruby went a little red around the ears as she said the last part.

"Introduce myself? You trust me to go solo and not get beaten up?"

"Sorry, no choice. I have places to be." She added despondently.


	6. Chapter 6

After Ruby and Emma had finished lunch Ruby tried to give Emma some basic directions on how to find the library. Even with these directions Emma managed to get lost three times. Not because she was following the directions wrong she reasoned, but because all of the damned corridors looked the same. At one point she discovered a door labelled with _WARDEN MILLS _in big bold letters. Hearing what Emma believed to be angry whispering coming from behind the door she quickly retreated and retraced her steps. Being found and punished for eavesdropping outside of Regina's office would have proven to Ruby that Emma was a little more obsessed with the warden than she wanted to let on. Plus Emma Swan was not one to lurk.

When she was arrived the library was characteristically (or so Ruby had led her to believe) empty. Like the rest of the prison it maintained the same bleak grey look and was clinically clean and drab. The smell of musty books however could not be overpowered by cleaning solutions and the smell stirred a deep buried memory in Emma that she could not quite grasp; although it made her see why someone might feel at home here.

She looked around and spotted the librarians desk which appeared to be empty. That is until a small brunette woman's head popped up from underneath it with a book in hand.

"Finally I've got you! Now stay on my desk!" The woman had a strange accent. Australian? It matched the quiet murmurings she had heard from the cell next door last night.

"Hi are you Belle?"

The woman looked a little embarrassed at being caught scolding a book but nodded kindly. "Yes that's me. How can I help you?"

She was cute Emma thought in a sweet and innocent kind of way. Like Snow she looked ridiculously out of place in an oversized prison jumpsuit but it did not hinder her looks, especially her bright and curious eyes. Ruby had good taste; she could see why she got flustered whenever she talked about her.

"I'm Emma, Ruby's new roommate, she said I should come and meet you"

Belle tried not to look obvious but she couldn't help but look around eagerly "Is Ruby with you?"

"No I'm sorry she said she had something to do"

"Oh… Ok. It's just I haven't seen her in a few days. She's busy doing things in her free time and I spend a lot of mealtimes in here" she explained looking slightly deflated.

"She wasn't happy that she couldn't make it if that helps. She probably had to go sort something in the laundry room."

Belle looked unconvinced.

"Honestly" Emma went on "She really wanted to be here. She speaks… erm… very highly of you"

A pinkness spread through Belle's cheeks and Emma was happy to see that Ruby's feelings for the girl where reciprocated.

"Ruby also said I should look into getting something to read. For all the downtime when I'm stuck in the cell. Any suggestions?"

"Well most of the books in here are pretty tired, and most are over 30 years old. I swear we haven't got anything new since the 80's. What do you prefer, fiction or non-fiction?"

"Fiction I think. I could use some escapism right about now."

"Then that's the section to your left and bookcases 1 to 6. I'm not really supposed to leave my desk so I'm sure you can pick out something you like just fine without me. If you need any help I'll be right here"

"Ok thanks."

Emma went to the section that Belle had pointed out and started to browse. Like she had said the books were cheap editions that were old and tattered. Emma was looking for something trashy like a good crime novel but was finding nothing besides classics she had no desire to read and unheard of novels that sounded like they should never have been written. She was about to give up when a flash of gold caught her eye behind a row of books. She tentatively pulled two of them out to get a better look. A few letters where revealed. Then with curiosity getting the better of her she pulled away a pile of books and put them on the floor eagerly. She would have to remember to clean them away later so Belle wouldn't have to. The cover of the book was battered but it had aged well. It made a huge contrast to the dishevelled looking books around it. The cover read Once Upon a Time.

Fairytales? Thought Emma. Well nothing screams escapism like stories that are so flamboyantly unrealistic. Although it were not something she would usually go for Emma decided she could use tales of princes and princesses slaying dragons to keep her mind off of being in a cage.

Once she had replaced the books from the floor that were previously strewn around she checked the clock and discovered she had five minutes of free time left. She took the book to the counter for Belle to scan.

"That's strange" said Belle "there's no barcode on this. Where did you find it?"

"Right at the back behind a big pile of books. I guess it's just been hidden for a while and never updated"

"Well I suppose I can write you a slip and a note for myself to remind me you've taken it out. You'll have to make sure you bring it back on time though. Trust me I can be a very irritating neighbour."

Emma laughed "Don't worry I won't forget. Although I do seem to be forgetting my way around this place an awful lot. I could use some directions on how to get back to my room so I can dump this before more laundry duty."

"It's just two lefts and a right"

"Thanks. I'll see you at dinner?"

"Yes, I'll try and make it tonight. I want to find out what Ruby has been up too."

**Hey everybody, as usual thanks for sticking with me and let me know what you think. I'm back at uni for my last month now which means I have quite a few assignments to complete. Sorry if these postings get a little erratic but I'll try my best!**

**-R x**


	7. Chapter 7

Emma made it back to the laundry room on time, which she credited completely to Belle's directions. She wondered if there was somewhere she could get a map from, although hopefully she'd have this place memorised within the week. She spied Ruby by the dryers and edged her way past the laundry bins to get to her.

"Hey Rubes, good free-time?"

Ruby looked up from the pile of wet laundry she was loading and grimaced. "It was" she paused looking for the right wording "productive"

"You ready to tell me what you were doing?" Emma asked tentatively.

Ruby laughed casually but Emma noticed that it was a little too high pitched. "It's not a great big mystery. I'm just running some errands. It's not even worth your time thinking about them. You'd probably die of boredom. Anyway tell me about your free time. Did you go to the library and… er… meet Belle"

"You are so bad at changing the subject. Yes I did. She was very sweet. And pretty. I can see why you like her so much."

Ruby's eyes widened comically in panic and she sputtered "What… who sai-… its not like… I don't… ugh"

"Chill Rubes I'm not going to say anything. It's cute. Plus she gives much better directions than you do so she's definitely a keeper."

"Thanks Emma, you're being very grown up about this."

"My pleasure… Ruby and Belle sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G"

"Annnddd just like that you ruined a perfectly good moment. What was it? Three minutes before your childishness kicked in?" she scalded in an amused way. "I'm going to not so subtly change the subject again. Didn't I promise you a Regina origin story?"

Emma knew that her growing obsession for Warden Mills was less than healthy. She rationalised that she was so bored in prison that anything remotely non-uniform was attention grabbing. Regina was like the only colour on a white canvas; an infuriating colour that made Emma want to punch things but an interesting one non-the-less. She nodded trying not to look too eager; she knew Ruby would give her a satisfied all-knowing look.

"Yes Ruby I believe you did. You should know that Batman really built up my expectations so you've got your work cut out."

"If life were half as interesting as Batman then right now I'd be an evil super villain walking around in skin-tight lycra. Anyway I should probably start with some deep past background. I'm not quite sure how long Warden Mills has been here but I know it's as long as I have. She couldn't have been here too long before me though because she's not that old. So that's the first bit done, this next bit is hard; I don't know how to say this in a way that you're going to believe. I'll just go ahead and say it. Regina used to be nice. She even used to insist that everybody called her Regina. Don't get me wrong it didn't mean that she was a soft guard. Nobody ever dared cross her; but I think in part that's was because nobody wanted too."

Emma looked at Ruby scathingly. "Nice is not the first word that comes into my head when thinking about her"

"Seriously! She was almost innocent back then"

"Now I know you're lying. What do you mean innocent?"

"Like… she was an idealist. She rode horses and baked."

"That's pretty weak reasoning Ruby"

Ruby made a noise of hopelessness. "Look I don't know how to describe it. It was more than that. She believed in true love and happily ever after and all that crappy stuff. She always told us she was working here until she could go do an art degree; but I doubt her mother would ever have let her. Then there was some kind of tragedy. I think it was her boyfriend or something. After that she wasn't the same person. She got promoted to Head Warden and insisted everyone call her by her title. She stopped talking about art degrees, she gave up riding horses and she stopped caring about what they served in the kitchens. She really was an awesome baker. Some Saturdays she would go help out with dessert in the kitchens. Her apple pie was to die for!"

"So all of that is why she started channelling the devil?"

"No that was just the start. She was heartbroken and a little sterner but still nice enough for a little while. Then there was this woman that Regina got friendly with"

Emma raised an eyebrow.

"Not like that, God is your mind constantly in the gutter?"

"Well it's not like there's anywhere else for it to be"

"Anyway this woman was called Kathryn. She had a lot in common with Regina. They'd both lost people they cared about and Kathryn was helping her to grieve. They were really good friends. Now I'm going to have to cut out of this story a second. What you really need to know is that while Regina may be the Head Warden she is by no means at the top of the food chain. Her mother runs this place."

"That explains why Regina got to be the Head Warden so young."

"Exactly. When Regina got close to Kathryn her mother didn't like it. I think she liked having Regina being so dependent on her. She'd tried to get closer to her in the past but every time she smothered her and it just pushed Regina further away. I think Kathryn reminded Regina's mother that her daughter didn't want to turn to her for help, and then, suddenly, Kathryn got realised.

"You're making that sound way more ominous than it should be. Surely getting released early is super happy fun times?"

"Kathryn promised that she'd keep in contact with us; especially Regina. They were supposed to go for coffee and everything. But she never showed. Since she got out of jail none of us have heard anything from her."

"Well maybe she was trying to forget about all of this. A clean slate and everything?"

"Maybe but she wasn't like that. If she told us she was going to do something then she would. The crazy theories range from Regina's mother blocking the mail to making sure she was permanently unavailable."

"Like in a creepy murdery way?"

"The only one who could tell us that is Kathryn… and she's not talking."

"Alright enough with the ghost stories Rubes! This still doesn't explain why Regina's so bitchy. I mean did she take classes to master that freaking sneer?"

"I don't know about bitchy. I just think she doesn't dare let herself get close to anyone again. You never know, it could be for their own protection."

"Yeah she's real saint."

Ruby looked cynically at Emma. "We don't need her to be a saint; just to keep us out of trouble."

Deep within the confines of the prison and well away from any of the inmates prying eyes lay the head office. Inside it the walls were dark wood panelled and the carpet was a lush deep red that muffled the sound of any footsteps coming from within. It was decorated lavishly with perfectly worn brown leather armchairs and expensive oak furniture. While inside the room it was hard to believe that it was surround by a grey and uniform prison; almost as if it had been magically transported for someone who viewed themselves as completely above the jails occupants.

Inside this room sat the forbidding Ms Mills Senior who was arguing in hushed tones with a shadowy figure that was sunk low into an armchair.

Cora hissed angrily "Explain to me why yesterday we received a new inmate?"

"We're a prison dear, I do believe that is under our term and conditions."

"Don't be smart with me. You know as well as I do that we are unlike most prisons. We don't get new inmates and we're the ones who write the terms and conditions. This wasn't part of our deal"

The shadowy figure giggled manically. "Deals… change."


End file.
